THE PUBLIC MIND: SENIOR CITIZENS PROVIDE VIEW ON VARIETY OF ISSUES FACING THE CITY OF CAPE GIRARDEAU

Dear Editor:

A Senior Citizen's Viewpoint:

We read with interest the articles in the Southeast Missourian on Oct. 20 entitled "Council says no to Zones." Also the Public Mind article in the Southeast Missourian on Oct. 25, regarding the Sport Complex project. We also listened to the speakers on the radio Wednesday morning Oct. 21, regarding zones vs at large voting.

We are retired and moved to Cape Girardeau in April 1991. We have been disappointed in some actions taken by the City Council regarding the garbage collection, the tax billing for street improvements and the active opposition~ the majority of the council members to the election of council members by zones.

One of the attorney council members has stated on at least two occasions that if the people knew all the facts about the future problems related to the garbage disposal, the citizens of Cape would be more favorable to the current system. If there are additional facts why aren't they publicized? I believe the residents of Cape are capable of analyzing the facts and would appreciate the additional information. We believe the current system stinks and if you disagree, drive by on a hot day.

We were tax billed $1,176.72 in March 1992 for street improvements. The city did not pay anything towards the paving of the street. They did add a 10% charge for city engineering services. The city controlled the entire project and let the contract without notifying the residents. We believe the city should have paid at least 50% of the project costs and received approval from the majority of the homeowners prior to starting the project.

We disagree with the council's vote on the zone issue. Certainly we encourage everyone to vote at the polls but when an issue of this type is to be placed before the voters we believe the Council Members, as a body, should be neutral. One councilman has stated he would listen to the people's comments but would vote his conscience. Does he represent the people?

We believe that the excess tax funds collected to fund the Show Me Center should be used to pay off the debt of the Show Me Center~ and then cancel the tax or let the people vote on how to spend the money.

The city of Cape Girardeau's population during the last 10 years has remained basically unchanged. We believe Cape could attract a lot of senior citizen retirees from St. Louis, Chicago and other large cities but the city government must take an active roll. We are aware of senior citizens moving in from St. Louis, Chicago. and Nashville. All that we know have moved to other locations. Reasons told to me: No central control of senior citizens activities. We have been unable to get a list of clubs, activities or meeting dates from city hall or any other organization. Recently, the limited information on TV Channel 13 has been discontinued. Senior citizens require services and cause jobs to be created.

We commen~d Councilman Melvin Gately and Doug Richards for their efforts to clean up the city of Cape Girardeau.

We lived several years in Florissant. We believe they had the most efficient city operation of any place we have lived. The city employees, council and mayor were highly respected. The council members were elected by Ward. The main reason we moved from the St. Louis area was because of the motor vehicle traffic.

Charles J. Hickman

Cape Girardeau